Today we embrace with filial affection all of our mothers, because today we celebrate the beautiful memorial of Saint Monica, who as we know was the mother of Saint Augustine.
And she is such a beautiful example to each and every one of us, because she didn't have an easy life and she struggled, but she remained faithful to the Lord, notwithstanding the difficult family members that she had to live with.
First and foremost, her husband Patricius, who we are told was a pagan with a very difficult temperament, who would get angry very easily.
She eventually won him over to the faith through her gentleness and her perseverance.
I know that many among you who listen to this daily homily have endured and withstood many a difficulty from your very own family, family members who didn't quite understand your faith at first, who would never join along in prayer, who would sometimes even, unfortunately, mock you for your faith, and yet you persevered out of great love for God – with great wisdom, I must add! You stuck close to Christ. Because, this is the wise man, the wise woman, the wise father, the wise mother – the one who hears the words of Jesus and builds their life on those words is like a man, Jesus told us, who built his house on solid rock, and the storms of life came, and they blew against that house, and they attacked that house, but it would not fall because it had a solid foundation.
My dear friends, Saint Monica, who lived in the 300’s, was born in 331, in Tagaste, North Africa, modern day Algeria, couldn't have had an easy life back then.
And yet she strove, as Jesus told us in last Sunday's gospel, to enter through the narrow gate. And then she won over also her children, the most famous of which was Saint Augustine. She never gave up on him. She prayed for him constantly, often with tears, because of his wayward lifestyle and his adherence to Manichaeism. She even followed him across the Mediterranean, from Africa to Italy, never abandoning hope with the help of Saint Ambrose in Milan, whom Saint Augustine once heard preaching.
And it was not so much what Saint Ambrose was saying that touched Saint Augustine, but the way he was saying it. Can we see how everything that we do, if it's done genuinely and authentically for God, can touch a person? It doesn't have to be our words sometimes, not even the gospel message. Sometimes a person will see our tears when we're describing our love for Jesus, and that alone can have the power to change us, to mold us.
Our Lord, in today's gospel again, once again speaks about the dangers of hypocrisy – to live our lives in a very exterior and superficial manner.
Our Lord knows that we lose so much when we live in that way, and that we are so bound to the things of the world; the honours, the pleasures, the power, the wealth that can come from this world, instead of attaching ourselves to the freedom… the freedom of the spirit, the freedom of the heart, the freedom that comes from living the truth, as Jesus said, “the truth will set you free.”
Saint Augustine, inspired by his mother, embraced this living of the gospel in truth. And so may all of us!
Entrust your family members who are having a difficult time, just as Saint Monica entrusted her family members and always know that not a single one of your prayers will ever go unheard by the Lord God Almighty, who loves you and is with you and blesses you this very day.
Our Lady, Mother of all the living, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.
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